Kye Allums on of Advocate's "40 Under 40"

From the Advocate:

These entrepreneurs, activists, politicians, artists, and athletes are much more than ahead of the curve, they're out, proud, and changing the world.

Kye Allums
21, Washington, D.C., College basketball player

Kye Allums always loved playing sports, but it was a one-on-one match with a friend in seventh grade that sparked his passion for basketball. “We played, and she said I was pretty good after she beat me,” Allums says. “Then she asked if I wanted to play on her traveling team, I said yes, and that’s how it all began.” Allums went on to continue a successful career in high school and college basketball. By the wrap of the 2009–2010 season, he held down a solid year chock-full of career highs on George Washington University’s women’s basketball team as a sophomore. But last season was not only a turning point in his life but in college sports as a whole. Allums came out as a female-to-male transgender person, making him the first openly transgender player in NCAA Division I sports and causing the NCAA to further reiterate its acceptance of transgender athletes. As he approaches his senior year, the fine arts major says he’s not sure where he’ll be in 10 years, but he’s glad to have broken a gender barrier in sports.